Understand, it’s not as if negotiations with any or all of the Big Three have hit snags. Fact is, Slap Shots has been told, negotiations have yet to even begin with the franchise goaltender, the captain or the first-pair, right-side defenseman.

Sather says he will be talking with them but the question is: When? New York, the city not the team, is known for doing things fast and you’d have to think locking down three of your best players would provide that kind of motivation.

Scoping out CapGeek you can see the Rangers will have a lot of choices to make next year. They’ll also have a lot of cap space to play with and likely more when/if the cap goes up next season. Maybe Sather wants to know just how much it’ll be.

The majority of their team are free agents, 18/24 to be exact (Some UFA and some RFA). It’s going to be a lot of negotiating this season and next summer for Mr. Sather if he wants the same type of team around.

stakex - Aug 4, 2013 at 10:39 PM

Well once Stepan is signed they will have most of their core locked up past next season, especially up front. No doubt there will be a lot of work to get a full roster ready for next season, but its not going to be an impossible task either.

Agreed. Realistically if Sather gets Stepan, Callahan, Lundqvist and Girardi all signed before they have a chance to consider hitting the market the Rangers should be okay. Brassard is a big task as well, but he is an RFA so they have some safety with that.

If Lundqvist hits free agency he will be the highest paid goalie in the NHL (he may be if NY resigns him). And it probably won’t even be close. I could see the Flyers offering him up to 10mil annually, whether they have the cap room or not. Ed Snider wants a Cup and there’s no doubt they’ve seen enough of Lundqvist in blue. If the Rangers resign the King and Girardi hits the open market, the Flyers will be on him as well.

You have to remember the rangers had to sing a new coach and four ufa’s this
Offseason with Stepan still unsigned. Once that is done you better believe Sather will lock up the heart of the rangers all long term. Expect Callahan to have a similar contract to Dustin Brown, Girardi prob around 5 per and Hank in the 7-9 a year. Hank def could get more on the open market but I could see him giving a little hometown discount to help the Rangers cap to bring in more talent for their cup runs. The window is now and they need to capitalize within the next few years.